Chapter 411: Be careful what youdesire...
An hour after explaining all of Nero's past to Anna, the woman had a rather dark face as she was clasping her hands tightly.
"...That...That is horrible..."
"How is one capable of committing such atrocities with a little girl?"
"You'd be surprised... This isn't even the worst case..." Ruby sighed. As the daughter of a countess, she knew all too well how rotten supernatural beings were.
She thinks that if she told Anna what The Inquisition does to humans, she would actually freak out more.
"...." Anna was silent as she bit her lip.
Seeing Anna's state, Ruby spoke:
"Want me to stop…?" Her tone of voice was very careful. After all, like her husband, Anna was quite important to her, and she didn't want her to get hurt.
And she also understands that not everyone is like her husband, a man who grew up with loose screws in his head, and thanks to his blood and personality, those screws were getting even looser.
"... Please continue."
"Yes... Please continue."
"...." The two looked up and saw Victor's father, wearing a pair of sleep pants and a black shirt. His eyes were serious and gleamed menacingly.
The expression on Leon's face was very reminiscent of Victor when he was angry.
'Well, they're not father and son for nothing.' Ruby could understand why Victor has the personality he has now.
Knowledge and common sense were taught by Anna, and how to have the 'man' attitude was taught by Leon.
"…were you listening?" Anna asked.
"Yes, I woke up not too long ago, and I found out that my son adopted a granddaughter… I wanted to hear why, but now I can understand it." He walks over to the couch and sits down next to Anna.
"Why?" Ruby asked, and the answer didn't disappoint:
"I would do the same in his place."
"No child should go through this."
"...." Ruby nodded her head slightly with her eyes closed.
A silence fell around them while the two were obviously waiting for Ruby to continue, and that's what she did.
"There was an incident in the past that caused us to be stuck on Earth for a year and six months."
"... Are you talking about those times when my son came here almost every day?" Anna had found this strange, considering that, since Victor became a vampire, he was always busy with something, but there was a time when he came home almost every day.
"Indeed."
"During that time, a few things happened, and Victor had to go to Greece to look for something."
"During this search, he came across Nero, who had been kidnapped by a group of demons from hell."
"..." Anna and Leon's eyes twitched slightly. They've heard that angels and demons exist, but even so, their existence remains something quite 'surprising' to them.
'For humans, the biggest surprise would be if there were demons, angels, and gods. I think that's one of the reasons why Anna is so shocked about Aphrodite?'
"Victor did the usual, burning all the demons and saving the girls the demons were using to... Well."
Ruby was looking for better words to describe the situation:
"Abuse..."
"...." Anna and Leon's eyes widened.
"Does that... Does that mean she...?" Leon squeezed his hand tightly.
"Nero did not suffer this fate for the single and simple reason that she is a hybrid, so her blood can be used in many ways, most notably as a powerful poison."
"....Don't tell me that... They were planning to use her as...-" Anna didn't dare finish her thought.
"... Yes, they were planning to use her as a weapon of war."
"You can imagine how Victor felt when he discovered this."
"..." The two nodded, they knew their son.
They know their child is normally harmless as long as something unforgivable like that doesn't happen in front of them.
For God's sake, anyone with the slightest bit of morals would be annoyed by this situation.
There are unforgivable crimes that, no matter how much you 'glorify' those crimes, will still be unforgivable, and abuse of minors and helpless women is one of them.
Mainly child abuse.
"Angered by the whole situation, Victor burned the place down, killed the demon, and left with Nero and the girls." Ruby omitted the part where Victor tortured the demons, cut off the head of Belial's son, and sent that head with a bomb so powerful it could be considered a nuclear bomb and threw it into the demon world.
Thus killing thousands of beings.
This was something they didn't need to know.
"What did Victor do with the girls?"
"He gave them the choice to forget everything that happened… And they chose yes, they wanted to forget everything."
"Using his charm powers, he made the girls forget all they had suffered and gave each of them 10 million dollars."
"..." Anna and Leon made a difficult face.
"She was already very broken..." Ruby spoke in a neutral tone, but her voice couldn't hide her sadness.
Ruby made a point of watching the girls to see if they were having a good life and what her spies and sources of information said the girls were doing well.
"From that moment, Victor went on his journey with Nero, he asked some witches to make equipment for her so she could defend herself, and for the period of a month, they were together."
"... It was at this time that I met Nero too... And as you can imagine, she was suspicious since the only person she related to or reacted to was Victor."
"...That's understandable since she's been through a lot, and... Finding someone who really wants to help her must have given her the suspension bridge effect?" Anna spoke after taking a breath to calm herself.
"Indeed."
"It took a few weeks, but I managed to get closer to her. I was also able to teach her a little bit of society..."
"I tried to get her to stay with us, and even Victor asked, but…she refused."
"And after Victor finished his affairs in Greece, she disappeared again."
"Time passed, and some things happened."
"And an incident happened in Japan."
"The vampire king's daughter had been kidnapped."
"...the king of vampires...that mighty, ancient being that everyone fears?" Leon spoke.
"Yes."
"The girl's name is Ophis Tepes, and she has a good relationship with my husband. She even considers him her father."
"... E-Eh?" Anna was more shocked by the father part.
"My husband also considers her as a daughter, and as soon as he heard about this problem, he immediately went to Japan."
"And upon arriving in Japan, he found Nero protecting Ophis." Although Ruby summed it up a lot, she didn't even touch on sensitive subjects like her husband wiping out most of Japan's supernatural beings, which was tantamount to mass genocide.
Or that Nero and Ophis were found in a terrible state.
"... It's like this is a game of fate. How can such a coincidence happen?" Leon can't help but comment.
"...." Ruby could only nod her head.
"As usual, Victor saved Nero and Ophis. And from that day, he adopted her." She left out that it was pretty much a forced adoption because Nero wouldn't accept it if it didn't go that way.
"This was also my request... I really liked the girl you see." Ruby flashed a small smile.
"..." A silence fell on the place.
Anna and Leon were silent as they were absorbing everything they were told and thinking about it.
'As expected of my son...' Leon showed a small satisfied smile. He didn't need to be a genius to know that things didn't end as 'peacefully' as Ruby implied.
And he's sure his wife knew that too since, unlike his wife, who had relatively good morals…
Leon was like Victor. As long as it didn't involve his family or was a heinous and unforgivable crime, he wouldn't give a damn.
Like father, Like Son.
Because of that, it was easier for him to relate to this situation because every action Victor did would be something he would do.
Something similar happened in the past when one of his friends tried to hit on his wife and almost abused her. He knows all too well how beautiful his wife is, and that beauty sometimes gets him into trouble.
Because of that, the moment he laid his hand on his friend...
Did he kill him? Of course not.
He gave that man the beating of a lifetime. He followed the philosophy of a certain bat here. He hit him so hard that even if he got out of the hospital, he wouldn't be the same.
He couldn't kill that man, the law didn't allow it, but that doesn't mean he couldn't beat him.
And even if he got out of the hospital, Anna would make sure he went to jail. She could be vindictive as well when she wanted to.
On the other hand, Anna was thinking of something else:
'...I need to know more about this world...' The feeling of not knowing something made her slightly anxious.
Unlike her husband, who didn't think much about it, she couldn't stay calm. In Ruby's conversation, she could tell that the woman was avoiding talking about certain things.
Anna knew why Ruby didn't want her to get too involved and know about this world since she may or may not react intensely to certain types of subjects.
Ignorance is bliss.
Ruby didn't mean any harm; she understands that very well. After all, as a former lawyer, she also didn't talk about some subjects to her clients, subjects that might make them react badly and possibly cause her to lose the case.
But unlike a mundane matter like this, world affairs are supernatural, especially with her son... can be quite dangerous.
Anna took out her phone and looked at a phone number.
'I need to talk to Renata.'
Slowly, unknowingly, Anna began to venture into the supernatural world. Until now, she was just at the gateway, but... She made a decision, a decision that would change her life and that of her husband forever.
'I need to know more'.
Curiosity killed the cat, that's a popular saying that everyone knows... But another saying could also be applied here, one that wasn't so popular but that spoke a lot about Anna's situation.
Be careful what you desire...
Suddenly, Ruby's cell phone rang.
"Excuse-me." She got up from the couch and answered it.
Anna nodded, stared at her phone for a few seconds, and bit her lip in frustration.
'...AHHH, Fuck it, I'm not like that! If I want to do something, I'll fucking do it!'
She clicked on the number and put her cell phone to her ear.
"...Anna." A beautiful and melodious voice was heard.
"We need to talk."
"...Sure."
"When?"
"Now."
"Now!?"
"Yes."
"Come to my house, and turn off that annoying pink aura of yours. My husband will be around."
"...That's impossible, I'm the goddess of beauty, you know? Turning off that aura is the same as erasing my purpose to exist as the most beautiful goddess... And it's not my fault if your husband thinks I'm beautiful after all... That's inevitable."
"Waaah, what a narcissistic bitch."
"But it's the truth..." Aphrodite smiled faintly. She was sitting on a couch while her entire room was a mess of broken furniture.
And not only was the furniture a mess, her face was too, with messy hair, tear marks, and messy clothes.
Despite being destroyed like this, the goddess of beauty was still…beautiful.
"Anyway, come visit me, we need to talk."
"Sure, I will." Soon the call is disconnected by Anna.
Aphrodite looked at her cell phone and thought of something:
'She made a decision. She had that feeling she has when she stops thinking and just acts as she pleases.' Aphrodite could remember several situations in the past that caused Anna to speak in that tone.
She wasn't her best friend for nothing, she knew the woman.
"...." A small happy smile formed on Aphrodite's face as she realized that she wouldn't lose her friend's friendship as long as she didn't hit on her husband, which was an easy thing to do.
Leon might have a good personality, but he had nothing to attract the goddess of beauty... Now...
Their child was different.
Remembering the sight of him covered in blood as he smiled, her body couldn't help but shake slightly.
Since thousands of years ago, she has always liked strong warriors. That was one of the reasons that led her to have a child with Ares.
But unlike Ares, that man acted like the god of war, but he was more handsome, and he wasn't a muscular head... and more importantly.
He had a quality that no male god she knew had.
His love and protection for his family.
When Aphrodite was with Victor, she remembered her time with Hestia, the goddess of home and hospitality.
And also one of the virgin goddesses...
"Hmm... Hestia..." She touched her chin as her face took on a serious expression while she seemed to be thinking about something.
"...I don't think that's a bad idea, but I also think it's a bad idea..."
"But if Victor takes the goddess Hestia's virginity, he will really die from the male gods... Especially Zeus, who will be mad with envy."
In a way, the goddess of beauty was an expert at causing chaos...
A smile grew on her face, and she found this situation amusing to behold, but soon her smile died, and she assumed a neutral expression.
"Nah, better let that go. I don't want to take any chances… I don't want to lose my friend over my ideas of fun.' She got up from the couch and stretched her curvy body, which could only be described as a body made by the gods.
"Hmm, Hmm. Yes, let's forget about it."
"Let's get back to my friendship with my friend first. That is more important than anything right now." She took on a serious expression, and slowly her body started to change.
Her hair turned blonde, her eyes turned blue, she became a little shorter, her thighs and butt lost their natural volume, and she became less curvy.
And her divine charm disappeared.
Now, she was just a pretty blonde with a big bust.
Interesting fact... She didn't change the size of her breasts. After all, they were her pride, so, even in her human form, she wouldn't dare touch them.
Her Greek attire changed to a business suit, and she tried to teleport to Anna's house.
"...Oh? He really works fast." She flashed a small smile when she realized she couldn't teleport to Anna's house directly, demonstrating that he learned from his earlier mistake.
Aphrodite, now in the form of Renata, used her powers again and teleported to the front of Anna's house.
"...I'm here again..." She looked at the door with a slightly worried look but quickly shook her head and tried to forget those feelings, and soon she rang the bell.